Safekeeping
by Mockingbird Q
Summary: Yuki and Shuichi 16 years before the series. What is they had met before? Cuteness ahead...


Title: Safekeeping  
  
Author: Mockingbird Q Mockingbirdquester@hotmail.com  
  
  
  
Disclaimer: Gravitation and its characters belong to the talented Maki Murakami, not me. If I owned 'em I'd be nicer to them ;)  
  
   
  
Notes: This fanfic is set fifteen years before the original story. Going by the ages listed in the manga that would make Eiri Yuki about 8 (In the manga he's 23 rather than 22), Shuichi Shindou around 4 and Tatsuha would only be one or so…. And yes, I know in the anime Tatsuha calls Yuki "Ani" and not "Onichan"…  
  
Thanks to Jasmine Flower for being my beta, and thanks to Atsuo for explaining the whole oniisan and onichan thing to me.  
  
   
  
Warnings: Cuteness ahead, along with bad Japanese that's probably used wrong despite help from a native speaker. No other spoilers except Yuki Eiri's real name.  
  
Rating: PG, no lemon (they're kids for crying out loud !) Anyone who wants it is welcome to use it, just keep my name on it. Feedback appreciated but not expected....  
  
  
  
   
  
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Eiri Uesugi was spending a quiet afternoon at the city library. Well, it had been a quiet one until a local daycare had invaded the peaceful setting. Despite their teacher's best efforts, small beings still managed to escape the children's section and roam throughout the building. Eiri was seriously considering going outside to read when he realized the teachers were forming the children into lines in preparation to leave.  
  
He watched in disbelief as one particularly genki young teacher began to sing softly to her students as they lined up, some silly little song about going back where you belong, and he couldn't help but smile. The adults in his life had always tended to just drag him by the hand wherever they thought he needed to go. Her method was sweet, if rather ineffective.  
  
   
  
At eight, Eiri had already decided he would be a writer one day. He hadn't done anything so stupid as to tell his parents this, but he had acquired a collection of notebooks where he jotted down thoughts and stories. He did study at the library after school, just as he claimed to his parents, but he also spent hours in the stacks, reading his favorite authors. He hoped to have books he had written among them one day.  
  
   
  
The librarians were thrilled with his voracious appetite for books, especially after he proved he could tackle adult novels. They had taken to suggesting new works to him when he came in each day. It took him around a week to finish reading an adult novel, but he could finish easier works in about 2 hours, so he could sometimes start reading a book when he entered the library at 3pm and finish it before he left at 5pm. At school and at home he often felt insecure, but the library was his sanctuary - he would spend all his time there among the books, if he could.  
  
   
  
Usually it was a sanctuary for him, but apparently not today. He was reading Charles Dickens' "David Copperfield" when he felt a small tug on his shirt. Eiri ignored it at first, and then the tug came again, followed by a soft whimper.  
  
Eiri looked down to find a young child, maybe three or four year's old standing by his table.  
  
   
  
The younger child was wearing a fairly asexual outfit, so he wasn't immediately sure if it was a boy or girl. Although the child was feminine enough, some innate sense told Eiri it was a boy. He had a fluffy mop of pink hair, and large dark blue eyes. He also had a band-aid across his left cheek, and at least one on each elbow and knee. Eiri had a feeling this boy was a challenge for both his teachers and his parents.  
  
   
  
Tear filled eyes were currently looking at Eiri beseechingly.  
  
"Ummm, Oniichan? I can't find my teacher!?"  
  
   
  
The older boy smiled at the younger child and answered  
  
"Well, I think your class already left."  
  
   
  
"But they forgot me!!!" the child wailed loudly.  
  
   
  
The large blue eyes became impossibly larger and overflowed with tears. Unsure of what to do with a small crying creature, but wanting to comfort him, Eiri reached over to pat the younger child's back.  
  
   
  
"It's going to be alright. Stop crying, okay?"  
  
   
  
"But they left me!!!!" the boy wailed out, still hurt and outraged.  
  
   
  
"I'm sure they didn't mean to - It was just an accident." Eiri said soothingly.  
  
   
  
He gave the little boy his most winning smile, the one that only rarely failed to make others do as he asked of them. The child stopped crying, looking on with wide eyes as Eiri packed up his books and left the table he had been sitting at. When the younger child made no move to follow him Eiri came back, grabbed the child by the hand and led him to the circulation desk, sure that the librarians would handle the situation.  
  
He didn't expect to find that just one librarian, Meari, was covering the circulation desk all alone.  
  
   
  
"Oh dear," she said, all but wringing her hands as she regarding the two children standing before her.  
  
   
  
"I'm the only one working the rest of the night, Mai and Yura left early since it was so quiet." She regarded Eiri for a moment. "I don't suppose you could walk him back?"  
  
   
  
Eiri sighed inwardly but smiled, deciding he might as well be helpful. It was already 4:30 anyway, only a half hour from when he needed to be home. "I don't mind, as long as the school is nearby...."  
  
   
  
   
  
So a few minutes later he was leading his young charge on a two block trek. Eiri quickly discovered that walking anywhere with a preschooler was a challenge. The child was easily distracted and Eiri felt a pang of sympathy for the teachers who had to try to harness all that energy. The five minute walk was stretching out to almost twenty.  
  
   
  
First the preschooler had to stop and pet the little fox terrier an elderly man was walking. He stood chattering at the man for long minutes until Eiri- san interrupted.  
  
   
  
"We have to leave now. Thank you for putting up with him." Eiri stated, giving a small bow and dragging the younger child away. The little boy waved happily as they left.  
  
   
  
"Mata ne, Ojiisan. Bai-bai inu!"  
  
   
  
The last statement caused Eiri to roll his eyes. This little trip was already taking longer then he would have liked. Hopefully they'd make it to their destination without further distractions. He suddenly found himself jerked to a stop and the hand that had been in his slipped away. He turned to see the small pink haired figure duck into a nearby alley. Eiri followed and found the boy petting a scraggly tabby cat.  
  
   
  
"Kodomo no baka! What do you think you're doing?"  
  
   
  
The only answer came in the form of pleading blue eyes staring up at him. "The nice kitty is very hungry!"  
  
The cat did indeed look hungry, its ribs clearly visible, and it was so tame it had obviously once belonged to someone.  
  
   
  
"Well what do you want me to do about it?" He asked a little crossly, beginning to lose patience. The younger child's pleading eyes suddenly filled with tears, and Eiri was forced to concede defeat.  
  
   
  
   
  
He had a hundred yen coin in his backpack, and he used it to buy a can of cat food at a nearby convenience store while the little boy stayed with the cat. When he came back and opened the can, the four year old squealed with happiness and hugged the older boy tightly around the waist.  
  
They both watched the cat eating the food with obvious pleasure and the two boys smiled contentedly at one another.  
  
   
  
"Now," said Eiri, still smiling, "can I please get you back to your school?" The preschooler smiled and swung their clasped hands playfully as they walked away.  
  
   
  
"Hai, Oniichan. Arigoto."  
  
   
  
This time they managed to walk almost five minutes before they were forced to stop again. Then the small hand holding Eiri's began to tighten, and the steps trying to match his began to slow.  
  
   
  
"Ummm, Oniichan?"  
  
   
  
"Hai, Nani desu ka?"  
  
   
  
"Umm... I need to use the bathroom." The younger child whispered, obviously embarrassed.  
  
Eiri stopped and looked down at smaller boy. "Can't you wait just a few minutes? We're almost at your school..."  
  
   
  
In response, the four year old crossed his legs and squirmed, looking up at Eiri pleadingly. The large eyes began to fill with tears again and Eiri nearly panicked at the thought of leading a crying child who had wet himself through the streets.  
  
"It's okay. You don't have to wait. Come on."  
  
   
  
   
  
He led the child to a nearby café and waited for him outside its only restroom. After more than five minutes passed with no sign the child was coming back out Eiri knocked on the door and called out  
  
   
  
"Gaki? Daijobu?"  
  
   
  
There was a long moment of silence then he heard a quiet response.  
  
   
  
"Umm...Ee...Ano..."  
  
   
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
   
  
The small boy unlocked and opened the bathroom door, clutching the front of his pants.  
  
"I can't make my zipper go up...." Eiri blushed but knelt down to help him. He had just managed to move the stubborn zipper back into place when he heard a loud gasp behind him. He turned to face an outraged older woman.  
  
   
  
"What are you doing to that child!?" she demanded.  
  
Eiri braced himself for a verbal confrontation, wishing for the millionth time in his life that he didn't have such conspicuously blonde hair and light eyes. The preschooler with him managed to avert any problems without Eiri having to explain himself.  
  
   
  
"Konnichiwa Obasan! 'Niichan was helping me 'cause my zipper wouldn't work. He was taking me to school but I had to go!" the pink haired boy explained all in one breath.  
  
   
  
The lady smiled at them then. "Sumimasen. Be careful going to school, boys." She said, patting the smaller child on the head as she walked away.  
  
As the younger boy washed his hands afterwards at Eiri's insistence, he asked in innocence "Oi, 'Niichan... Why did she ask what we were doing? Because I'm not at school?"  
  
   
  
"No. Because I look gaijin. It makes people suspicious of me." Eiri answered simply and honestly as the younger child dried his hands. Eiri noticed he looked troubled as they left the small café.  
  
   
  
The child regarded him warily and announced "Gaijin eat little kids!!!" with an air of supreme authority that can only be gained on the playground.  
  
"No they don't." Eiri responded, giving the four year old's hand a reassuring squeeze "and I'm not gaijin anyway..."  
  
   
  
They reached the fence outside the dayschool then, and the younger child turned to Eiri with a huge smile. "I think you're wonderful 'Niichan!" he said, throwing his arms around Eiri's waist and giving him one last hug. "Arigotou!!!" Then he ran out the school's playground to join a friend, who he latched onto from behind.  
  
   
  
"Hiro! Guess what happened!??"  
  
   
  
"Shuichi!!!" his little friend answered "Where'd you go? I was worried!!"  
  
   
  
Eiri watched, bemused, and briefly wondered if his baby brother Tatsuha would be like this child in a few more years. Somehow he doubted it.  
  
But the youngster's overflowing affection and enthusiasm were a bit contagious. Eiri smiled the whole walk home. He decided to bring some food with him to the library the next day, so he could stop and feed the stray cat again as he walked home. And he wondered how long it would be until Tat-chan would start calling him "big brother"….  
  
  


End file.
